Why Isn’t the Library LinkLinking to the Library?:

Academic Libraries ConfrontThe New Competitive Marketplace

Steven Bell, DirectorPaul J. Gutman LibraryPhiladelphia Universitybells@philau.eduEducause 2001 October 31, 2001Copyright Steven Bell,2001. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

A New Era for Libraries

“ If there is one institution on a collegecampus that has never faced outside competition, it is the library…the library was the only game in town.Until now.”

Ron Feemster“Ready or not here come the digital libraries.”University Business, July-August, 2001

Presentation Overview

• Who are the new information market competitors?

• Library director responses to new forms of competition

• Strategies for coping with new competition – business perspective

• Recommendations for library directors for a new competitive age

Consumers Expect More Choice

Over the last 30 years there has been anexplosion in consumer choice – even theadvent of a “choice industry.”

1970s 1990sProduct

Breakfast Cereal

Magazine Titles

Levi’s Jean Styles

Dental Flosses

Questia-Type Services

160

339

41

12

0

340

790

70

64

5+

New Information Choices

Category One - External

Category Two - Internal

• Questia Media• Xanedu• ebrary• Jones E-Global Library

NetLibrary?

• Blackboard• WebCT• Campus Pipeline• Campus Cruiser

What Are Librarian’s Thinking?

“We need to look at Questia from a college administrator’s perspective before we dismiss it..Can we prove to the President that the value we add is really worth the difference in cost?”

“Questia seems like the future we all knew was coming… Should I discourage students from using it if they find it valuable and are willing to pay?”

“I would take a 200,000 volume library created by facultyand librarians, over time, versus a 200,000 electronic textcollection created by Questia…the former will come muchcloser to meeting the needs of a particular institution.”

“At a presentation to public and academic librarians Imentioned Questia as a potential competitor…I can’t recallencountering such obvious hostility from an audience.”

Survey Of Library Directors

Methodology

• 2,000+ libraries identified from American Library Directory (DIALOG file 460)

• 300 libraries needed for acceptable level of statistical precision

• Random number generator used to produce list of numbers between 1-2000

• First 300 numbers from list are records selected from DIALOG set

• Identified 207 usable e-mail addresses; 68 directors completed survey for a 32.8% response rate

Survey Objectives

• Number of libraries where a portal or CMS is in use

• Activity among users of portal or CMS that create competition for the library

• Level of library director’s knowledge of new information marketplace competition

• Director’s attitudes and responses to real or perceived competition to the library

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Know itWell

Familiar KnowLittle

No Nothing

QuestiaXanEduebraryJones E-GlobalNetLibrary

Knowledge of Competitors

Library Director Knowledge of Commercial Competitors

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

UsedHere

Not usedhere

Not Sure Do NotKnow It

QuestiaXanEduebraryJones E-GlobalNetLibrary

Presence of Competitors

Are Any of Theses Competitors Used on Your Campus

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Yes No Do NotKnow

Other

% Response

Faculty Use of Competitors

Are Your Faculty Currently Linking to Non-Library or Commercial Information Sources on Their Course Pages

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

StronglyAgree

Neutral StronglyDisagree

% Response

Perceived Threat of Competition

Are Commercial Information Providers a Potential Threat to the Library’s Status As Primary Information Gateway?

Future of Information Competitors

Commercial Information Providers Are Just One More Set of Dot.com Enterprises That Will Fail and Go Out of Business

0%5%

10%

15%20%25%

30%35%40%

45%

StronglyAgree

Neutral StronglyDisagree

% Response

Faculty Using Competitors

Response to Discovering Faculty Linking to Information Competitors

 

I would contact

my faculty 33%

I would not contact

my faculty67%

Competitors on Campus

Response to Discovering an Information Competitor Selling Services to Students at a

Student Center 

Ignore Presence of Competitor 73%

Act to Have Competitor Removed

27%

Challenging the Competition:Business Tactics

• Knowledge of the Environment• Customer Service• Strategic Use of Technology• Marketing for Competitive Advantage• Organizational Self-Assessment• Product/Service Differentiation• Staff Resources

• Alliance Building

Knowledge of the Environment

Recommendations for Directors

• Few directors knew all or even most of the competitors• Must go beyond library literature to “scan” environment

• (e.g., XanEdu in higher education literature; Questia frequently covered in Houston papers)

• Find out how competitors work, their offerings and pricing

Business Tactics

• Majority of firms use some form of competitive intelligence• Some service firms use “mystery shoppers”• If you don’t know the competition you can’t outsmart it

Customer Service

Business Tactic

• Become customer-centric or customer-adaptive• Resources, marketing and services are based on customers’ needs• Create a business customers return to repeatedly

Recommendations for Directors

• Start by asking if patrons would “pay for it”• Survey users and assess quality of services• Cultivate a customer-driven culture in the library• Eliminate poor services and restructure those worth keeping

Strategic Use of Technology

Business Tactic

• Use technology to achieve competitive advantage• Swatch integrated pagers into its watches and was able to achieve the largest share of the pager market in countries where the watch sold• Imaginative use is more critical than cutting edge technology

Recommendations for Directors

• Libraries cannot match technology of competitors• Web sites can be improved (e.g., “my library” sites)• Databases can be simplified (e.g., SiteSearch, WebExpress)• Technology is the great equalizer

Marketing for Competitive Advantage

Business Tactic

• Like libraries, electric utilities had no regional competition• The advent of deregulation created multiple competitors• Key tactic is to market to fears of unreliable service• Exposing competitors’ weaknesses works for established player

Recommendations for Directors

• Libraries can’t compete with competitors’ slick marketing• Directors have access to demographic data• Directors know the curriculum, courses and assignments• Marketing can be highly targeted for competitive advantage• Libraries should point to competitors’ weaknesses

Organizational Self-Assessment

Business Tactic

• Determines where a firm is most prone to a competitor• Hartford Hospital used the Malcolm Baldridge self – assessment to identify strengths and weaknesses• Hartford developed a model complaint management program

Recommendations for Directors

• Libraries are familiar with satisfaction surveys, but need to go beyond that to self-assessment• Could be modeled on self-study for accreditation• Identify peer libraries as target competitors• Use analysis to shift weaknesses to positions of strength

Product/Service Differentiation

Business Tactic

• To succeed in a market with so much choice, a product must be distinctly different and superior• Theodore Levitt said any product or service can be differentiated• Oral-B created a toothbrush with a wear indicator

Recommendations for Directors

• Not quite as easy as creating a new product• Directors have a “built-in” differentiation that can help• Resources are unique to the institution• Competitors have generic resources for any campus• Differentiate by exploiting the differences

Staff Resources

Business Tactic

• Business leaders are only as good as their people• Productivity growth through people provides the winning competitive edge• Advantage goes to companies that communicate and create cultures that are entrepreneurial and liberated

Recommendations for Directors

• Staff can create environment of welcome or hostility• Director must develop a staff that is customer driven• Weak link is the student worker • Director must support development for staff and customer- service training for student workers

Alliance Building

Business Tactic

• A rarer strategy but sometimes used to thwart competitors• Alliances may form to strengthen one partner; these types are pre-emptive, to block the new competitor• More rarely, an alliance is made with the new competitor

Recommendations for Directors

• Can alliances work for libraries to ward off competitors• Best bet is to look for alliances with competitors• Some competitor’s resources may strengthen collections• Library director has to take lead in creating alliances

Conclusion

• Competitors are here to stay!

• When is acting competitively the right path to follow?

• This is good – a wake-up call!

• Can academic libraries adapt to competition without compromises?

• Directors must adhere to basic values.

THEEND

These slides are on the web at://staff.philau.edu/bells/webpresent.html